OXFORD — The town intends to discontinue maintenance on Mapledale Road, a dead-end street off Gore Road that serves only one residence.

Selectmen, at their meeting Thursday, voted to begin the discontinuance process after Town Manager Michael Chammings reported that the Maine Department of Transportation has determined a bridge on the road is “scour critical.”

According to an Oct. 8 letter from MDOT Maine Local Roads Director Peter Coughlan, the bridge across Greeley Brook is one of 40 in the state that the department has determined is in critical condition, according to federal standards.

The bridge’s abutments, according to the letter, have been, or have the high potential to be, undermined by water.

“This means there is a significant potential of bridge failure if a future storm brings water high and fast enough to do more damage,” Coughlan warns, in the letter.

Chammings recommended discontinuing town maintenance on the road, noting that it is maintained by the town despite having only one house on it.

MDOT’s property division can assist the town in determining what amount of damages might be available to the homeowner because of discontinuing the road’s maintenance, Chammings said.

“A lot of times when you discontinue a road you need to give compensation,” Chammings said. In some cases, discontinuing a town road may actually increase property values, but property owners may also demand damages from the town, he told the board.

A six-step procedure to discontinue town roads attached to Coughlan’s letter explains that the town must determine property abutters, determine damages,  meet to vote on discontinuance, file an order of discontinuance with the town clerk, hold a town vote to approve the discontinuance and award damages before being officially excused from maintaining the road.

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